1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tunable MEMS resonator and a method for actively tuning a MEMS resonator.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Microelectromechnical systems (MEMS) are miniaturized devices that provide low power consumption, and high frequency and greater sensitivity. MEMS components may be etched from a single material, such as crystal silicon. Prior devices have incorporated the technology of MEMS to resonators.
However, prior MEMS resonators have several limitations. One limitation is that prior MEMS resonators may only have resonant frequency changed in one direction, i.e. an increase the resonant frequency, and do not have the capability to have resonant frequencies both increased and decreased from the natural resonant frequency. In addition, another limitation of prior MEMS resonators is that the bandwidth Q is inadvertently changed and reduced along with the change in resonant frequency. Prior MEMS resonators also have no capability to have the resonant frequency and bandwidth of the resonators independently tuned.
A characteristic problem of MEMS resonators is that resonant frequency and bandwidth, i.e. Q value, which are strongly set by the mechanical properties of the resonators require tuning in real environments. This problem limits the applicability of MEMS resonators.